Barberin serves as Remi's adoptive father, laboring in Paris while Remi resides with his mother in the French village of Chavanon. After suffering a work injury in the city, he returns home both injured and financially ruined, having lost a lawsuit for compensation. This ordeal turns him bitter and hard-hearted. He discloses to Remi that the boy is a foundling, discovered as an infant in Paris wearing fine clothes hinting at wealthy parentage. Facing desperate poverty and blaming Remi for their hardship, Barberin resolves to sell the boy despite his wife's fierce objections. He arranges the sale to Vitalis, a traveling performer, tearing Remi away from his adoptive mother and home. Barberin's actions stem chiefly from a desperate need for money, having earlier forced his wife to sell their cow, a vital source of income, to fund the failed lawsuit. His presence occurs only in the story's early stages, setting Remi's journey in motion, and his role disappears entirely after Remi's departure without depicted development or redemption.